1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waterproof connector including a metal shell and a manufacturing method thereof and particularly to a waterproof connector having a waterproofing member directly disposed on a shell and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Background Art
A waterproof connector having waterproof property is recently known. In a method conventionally employed for acquiring the waterproof property of a connector, a housing is insert-molded or assembled on the outside of a shell making up the connector to achieve a configuration with a resin material such as rubber attached to the outer circumference of the housing, and this resin material is pressed against a component or a surface desired to be closely attached thereto, such as a counterpart connector, thereby acquiring the waterproof property of the connector.
For such a connector, for example, an invention of a connection device (connector) for electronic equipment having a waterproof function is disclosed in WO 2011/108679. The connection device having a waterproof function disclosed in WO 2011/108679 includes a substantially tubular housing, a supporting portion formed into a wall shape in the housing, contact terminals and power terminals supported by the supporting portion, a shell mounted inside the housing, a seal material disposed in the vicinity of an end portion of the housing on the connection terminal insertion side along the outer circumference of the housing. In the invention of the connection device for electronic equipment having a waterproof function disclosed in WO 2011/108679, it is described that water can be prevented from deeply entering between a case and the connection device and the water infiltration to a circuit board can more certainly be prevented by disposing the seal material in the vicinity of the end portion of the housing on the connection terminal insertion side.
The connection device for electronic equipment having a waterproof function disclosed in WO 2011/108679 has the seal material disposed along the outer circumference of the housing and the shell mounted inside the housing. Therefore, since the seal material is disposed outside the shell and the housing, the connection device problematically increases in size. Since the seal material must separately be disposed, a manufacturing process of the connection device is problematically complicated.
As a result of various experiments conducted in view of such problematic issues and problems to be solved of the conventional technique, the inventor found out that a waterproof connector can be downsized by directly disposing a waterproofing member on a shell, thereby completing the present invention.